Product dispensing container



Sept. 29, 1959 J. F. WEST 4 PRODUCT DISPENSING CONTAINER Filed Feb. 7, 1955' III v wi u u INV E NTOR JOSEPH F. WEST ATTYS.

United StatesPatent PRODUCT DISPENSING CONTAINER Joseph F. West, Millville, N.J., assignor to Wheaton Glass Co., Millville, N.J., a corporation of New Jersey Application February 7, 1955, Serial No. 486,565

3 Claims. (Cl. 239-337) This application is a continuation in part of my prior application, Serial Number 381,080, filed September 18,

' 1953, now abandoned, and its object has been to provide a glass container for products, to be dispensed by pressure generated by a propellant, while avoiding the disadvantages hereto-fore attendant upon packaging of such products in glass. It has'been conceived and developed primarily in relation to the packaging and use of products known in the trade as aerosols, and comprising a product to be dispensed, such as an insecticide, pharmaceutical, cosmetic, perfume or detergent, and a propellant by which said product is pressurized and finely dispersed to use metal containers, for the most part, for packaging 'and'dispensing them. This has been a serious drawback, since packaging of these products in glass provides a substantial advantage both from the standpoint of appearance and customer appeal, and from the standpoint of maintenance of the product and container against deterioration. Many products which would otherwise lend themselves admirably to the aerosol method of packaging and dispensing could not be utilized in this manner,

for the simple reason that they reacted with the metal of the container and this resulted in danger of explosion and contamination of the product by products of reaction with the container. When glass containers have been substituted for the metal aerosol containers, these drawbacks have been avoided, but the glass containers have presented a problem of their own which is even more serious than those enumerated above. Since these products are packaged and maintained in the containers under pressure suificient to eject them with some force through the dispensing valve, the danger from breakage of the glass has been very real and serious. When the glass container is accidentally broken, it shatters into many pieces with explosive force, and attendant danger to the user or anyone who may be nearby, and this fact has either prohibited the use of glass in containing these substances, or created very very serious limitations on its use.

a surrounding sheathing for. a container of this type, in which a plastic sheathing surrounds themajor portion of the glass container and cooperates with the valve structure customarily attached across the mouth of the container at its neck, to complete the sealing of the container against escape of fragments, in case of explosion.

A further object of the invention has been to provide a sheathing of elastic nature which surrounds the body portion of the container without actually being bonded to it.

A further object has been to provide such a sheathing, associated with the container in such a manner as to prevent release of glass fragments upon explosion, but at the same time to permit gases released as a result of such explosion to be vented gradually from the sheathing and thereby avoid danger that the sheathing itself might ultimately be ruptured to create danger from flying glass fragments.

A further object has been to provide a sheathing of such tensile and tear strength as to avoid all danger of accidents of the character discussed above.

A further object has been to provide a method of producing a sheathing of this type about the container body which can be performed rapidly, reliably and economically, with a fine degree of control of the sheathing thickness and of the area of its application against the container body.

Still further objects and advantages of the invention and the manner in which they have been attained will be evident from reading of the following detailed description in the light of the attached drawing, in which;

Figure 1 is a perspective view of a container formed in accordance with the invention, with an ornamental and protective cap overlying the valve structure applied to the neck of the container;

Figure 2 is a view similar to Figure 1 with the ornamental cap removed;

Figure 3 is a side elevation on an enlarged scale of the bottle of Figure l, with the ornamental cap and lower portions of the bottle in cross-section;

Figure 4 is a central, longitudinal cross-section through the neck and valve of the bottle, with the actuator shown in elevation, but cut away to illustrate the interior construction;

Figure 5 is a detailed cross-section through the upper portion of the neck and lip of the bottle, and

Figure 6 is a cross-section on the line 6-6 of Figure 3.

As illustrated in the drawing, the pressure-pack container of the invention may be a glass bottle 20 having a bottom 21 and a cylindrically extending side wall portion 22 interconnected through a tapered portion 23 with a neck 24, which is surrounded at its upper end by the depending flange 25 of a metal sealing ring 26 which overlies the open upper end of the bottle and secures it in sealed relation to a dispensing valve 27. While this valve may take various forms, it is here shown as a well-known type including upper and lower sealing rings 28 and 29 of synthetic rubber or the like, adapted to seal the spaces between the upper end of dispensing tube 30, the open end of the bottle, the sealing ring 26 and valve stem 32, so that liquid is confined under the vapor pressure of the propellant within the bottle at all times except when the valve stem is tilted by applying finger pressure to actuator button 33 as illustrated in broken lines in Figure 4. This tilting movement frees the lower end of stem 32 at one side from its sealing engagement with depending sleeve 34, thereby permitting dispensing of liquid underpressure through groove 35 and associated passages in stem 32, whence it is discharged through nozzle 36 from the bottle. The dispensing valve structure and upper end of the bottle may be covered by an ornamental cap 45 as is customary in the art. In regard to these general features of the bottle and its dispensing valve, it is similar to containers of the prior art employed for holding and dispensing pressure;

pack products such as aerosol liquids. However, as indicated above, such containers are dangerous in this use when made of glass, even when the precaution is taken of employing unusually low pressure within the bottle. By thefeatures discussed below, a glass container of this general nature may be employed without such limitation or danger.

In the practice of the invention, I apply to the exterior .of the container a sheathing 37 which encloses it on the bottom, along its sides and over substantially its entire exterior surface, leaving only the upper portion of the neck and top of the bottle uncoated. The neck of the .bottle is provided with a special groove 38 having a substantially horizontal ledge 39 and the upper end of the sheathing is provided with an annular bead 40 which is compleniental to this groove and interlocked therewith. .The lower end of the depending flange 25 of the metal sealing ring 26 is spun or otherwise bent inwardly as indicated at 42 to interlock this sealing ring or cap in her- -rnetically sealed relationship to the dispensing valve structure. It will thus be seen that the entire bottle is enclosed or encased within a sealing structure comprising the sheathing 37 and the dispensing valve interlocked therewith through the head 40.

It is desirable that the flange 25 terminate adjacent the thickened portion of the sheathing, such as the head 40, so as to avert the danger of tearing of the sheathing by the bottom edge of flange 25 upon fracture of the bottle, while at the same time locking in the bead 40 by the flange 25. In this way, the upper portion of the bottle and its sealing ring 26 form a closure with the upper portion of the sheathing surrounding the neck which, upon breakage of the bottle, maintains the integrity of the casing composed of the sheathing and this upper structure. The sheathing of this surrounding structure will expand, upon breakage of the bottle, but will gradually be vented .through perforations 43 as described hereinafter.

While the sheathing 37 may be formed of any suitable reinforcing or encasing material such as a plastic having the necessary tensile and tear strength to resist rupture in case the glass bottle 20 is broken, I prefer to form it as a cured synthetic resin formed about the exterior of the bottle by a coating or dipping operation. A variety of materials and techniques for application are available to persons skilled in the art to effect such coating. The coating may be a vinyl chloride-acetate resin, a butadieneacrylonitrile copolymer compound, etc. I have obtained best results in use of a coating comprising vinyl chloride resin, i.e., a resinous composition formed by polymerization of vinyl chloride as well understood by persons skilled .in the art. Preferably the formation of the resinous shell or sheathing is accomplished by first forming a plastisol including the desired plasticizer such as 'di-isooctyl phthal- .ate or tricresyl phosphate and other desired ingredients with the finely milled vinyl chloride resin and causing this liquid plastisol composition to adhere to the outer surface of the container in the desired thickness, after which the coating is cured to produce an elastic sheathing surrounding the container as illustrated. The thickness of the coating will, of course, depend upon the pressure of the intended use and other factors, but I have found that coatings of between A and 5 in thickness of the vinyl chloride sheathing will provide ample protection for most bottles of between /3 and 8 ounces capacity.

When the glass portion of the bottle 20 is fractured, by .reason of being dropped or otherwise, the sheathing 37 and dispensing valve remain interlocked as illustrated, with the result that'the individual glass fragments remain encased in this sheathing. While this assures against danger in the immediate emergency, there is some slight possibility, in view of the substantial vapor pressure of the contents of the sheathing, that the continued effect of the pressure of these contents may cause a rupture during the course of time. I therefore insure against this, in the preferred form of the invention, by forming a number of perforations 43 which penetrate through the sheathing as illustrated to provide vent holes through which the vapors may escape gradually in case of breakage of the glass interior structure. The use of a sheathing having considerable elasticity, such as one formed by curing the vinyl chloride resin plastisol, is particularly desirable in connection with this vent hole feature since the elasticity permits the vapors to escape between the space formed between the sheathing and glass particles which may be adjacent thereto.

In order to provide full assurance against leakage through the space provided in the region of the dispensing valve cap, there are preferably provided a series of annular ridges 44 on the upper and lower surfaces of the annular flange extending from the upper end of dispensing tube 30 and on the upper end of the bottle, these ridges projecting into sealing engagement with rings 28 and 29.

The sheathing can best fulfill its function when secured in non-bonded relation about the bottle, and the use of a vinyl chloride elastomer as the sheathing material provides a particularly effective casing, both because of its strength and elasticity, and because of the complete freedom from any tendency to adhere to the bottle wall. The method of forming the coating or sheathing about the bottle may be practised in accordance with any procedure known to the art. Regardless of whether the vinyl chloride resin to be applied be of the non-thixatropic, plastisol type, or the thixatropic type, it should provide the desired elasticity and nonadherent property, and may be formed about the bottle by methods appropriate to its particular type, involving such dipping or spraying and curing steps as are necessary and familiar to those skilled in the art.

While the invention has been discussed above in relation to a single illustrative embodiment of the glass container, persons skilled in the art will be aware that various modifications are available within the general principles discussed. I do not therefore wish to be limited except by the scope of the following claims.

I claim:

1. A composite container containing a product and a gaseous propellant for dispensing said product by pressure generated by said propellant, comprising an inner rigid frangible container having a discharge opening, and an outer container freely overlying substantially the entire exterior surface of said inner container in close conformity therewith and secured to said surface in pressure proof sealing engagement adjacent said discharge opening, said outer container being a continuous sheath of a synthetic resinous elastomeric elastically expansible material, expansible by the pressure released by said gaseous propellant upon explosive fracture of said inner container, said outer container having tensile and tear strengths to withstand the initial explosive force and when expanded having tensile and tear strengths to confine and retain said pressure and the fracture fragments of the inner container, and said outer container having at least one vent therein operable upon expansion of the outer container to gradually exhaust said pressure therefrom while still retaining therein the fracture fragments of said inner container as said outer container exhausts said pressure and retracts to substantially its original unexpanded condition.

:said dispensing valve in operative position in said discharge opening and engaged with the outer container at said peripheral groove and sealing said outer container in said peripheral groove.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 5 Paquette Dec. 28, 1897 Peters Nov. 6, 1900 Schenck Feb. 19, 1907 Fisk June 15, 1926 10 Cole Aug. 5, 1930 Corsi Aug. 24, 1937 Kazimirow Mar. 24, 1939 Majewski Apr. 29, 1941 Kazemirow Feb. 16, 1943 15 Anschicks Aug. 7, 1951 6 Dey Aug. 28, 1951 Ferguson June 17, 1952 Endicott Sept. 16, 1952 Swasko Aug. 3, 1954 Abramo June 3, 1956 Magill July 24, 1956 FOREIGN PATENTS Great Britain Apr. 2, 1931 Germany Sept. 24, 1925 OTHER REFERENCES Condensed Chemical Dictionary, Rose fifth edition,

Condensed Chemical Dictionary, Rose fifth edition, 

